War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen and unsupposed circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end. It has but one thing certain, and that is to increase taxes.

— Thomas Paine

The well-known is such because it is well-known, not because it is known.

— G.W.F. Hegel

CLAUSEWITZ DRINKING WITH STEIN AND GNEISENAU IN 1815
Detail of Painting "Die Tafelrunde" by Josef Schneider
Displayed on The Clausewitz Homepage by courtesy of the
Headquarters of the German Army Forces Command,
Koblenz (HQ GARFCOM).

We sometimes find Clausewitz referred to or used in contexts that are not primarily military-political, military-historical, or military-theoretical. Sometimes these contexts are artistic, literary, business-related, or ideological. Here are some links to websites which refer to Clausewitz in these or other contexts. Some of the older links' targets have disappeared, but we retain the links for historical purposes.

War and wildlife: the Clausewitz connection

Carl von Clausewitz might seem an unusual thinker to invoke in the name of wildlife protection but his insights into the nature of war provide a unique perspective into an arena that arguably poses more complex moral questions of responsibility to protect than with humans. The increasingly dangerous world of wildlife conservation offers a prism for examining many issues linked to sovereignty, especially in developing countries. This study highlights how the commercial rewards of the wildlife trade have fed into problems surrounding national security such as corruption, sub-state insurgency and state legality. These factors have led to the growing militarization of wildlife protection and, in turn, raise a fundamental question: is it ever right for an outside actor to ignore international convention to save a species from extinction?

1945: In That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis, Lord Feverstone (Dick Devine) defends rudely cutting off another professor by saying "[...] but then I take the Clauswitz view. Total war is the most humane in the long run."

1955: In Ian Fleming's novel Moonraker, James Bond reflects that he has achieved Clausewitz's first principle in securing his base, though this base is a relationship for intelligence purposes and not a military installation.

1977: In The Wars by Timothy Findley, a novel about a nineteen-year-old Canadian officer who serves in World War I, one of his fellow soldiers reads Clauswitz's On War, and occasionally quotes some of its passages.

2000: In the Ethan Stark military science fiction book series by John G. Hemry, Clausewitz is often quoted by Private Mendoza and his father Lieutenant Mendoza to explain events that unfold during the series.

2004: Bob Dylan mentions Clausewitz on pages 41 and 45 of his Chronicles: Volume One, saying he had "a morbid fascination with this stuff," that "Clausewitz in some ways is a prophet," and that reading Clausewitz can make you "take your own thoughts a little less seriously." Dylan says that Vom Kriege was one of the books he looked through among those he found in his friend's personal library as a young man playing at The Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village

1977: In Sam Peckinpah's film Cross of Iron, Feldwebel Steiner (James Coburn) has an ironic conversation in the trenches between hostilities with the advancing Red Army with his comrade, Cpl. Schnurrbart, in which they refer to German philosophers and their views on war. Cpl. Schnurrbart: " ...and von Clausewitz said, 'war is a continuation of state policy by other means.'" "Yes," Steiner says, overlooking the trenches, " ...by other means."

1995: In the film Crimson Tide, the naval officers of the nuclear submarine have a discussion about the meaning of the quote "War is a continuation of politics by other means." The executive officer (Denzel Washington) contends that the interpretation of Clausewitz's ideas by the captain (Gene Hackman) is too simplistic.

2007: In the film Lions for Lambs, during a military briefing in Afghanistan Lt. Col. Falco (Peter Berg) says: "Remember your von Clausewitz: 'Never engage the same enemy for too long or he will ...'", "adapt to your tactics", completes another soldier.

2009: In the film Law Abiding Citizen, Clausewitz is frequently quoted by Clyde Shelton, the main character played by Gerard Butler.

The Children's Illustrated Clausewitz

We haven't actually figured out what this website is for/about yet, but actually, it looks pretty good. And it really is a book on Clausewitz designed for kids (and possibly young political science professors). Sometime when we have time to kill we may try to plow through it.

The Clausewitz Family Tree.

Click image for a 1300x900-pixel version

This is a contribution from Olaf Thiel und Bernd Domsgen of The Clausewitz Society
in Clausewitz's hometown of Burg, Germany.E-Mail Adressen für Fragen, Hinweise und Anregungen.
[This address is provided as an un-linked image, for security.]

Bersekker Clausewitz

In Carl von Clausewitz's 1832 political treatise On War, the military general is given the form of the humanist scholar. But it isn't until the establishment in the United States of the discipline of the Humanities, between the world wars, that this traditional figure of knowledge is given official discursive status. Using Clausewitz and the rhetoric of the most recent "crisis in the Humanities," we pose the question, "where in fact are our military institutions located?".

In order to show the interdependence of these two apparently discrete histories, one would have to redefine modern warfare and humanist scholarship in terms of each other. To this end, we frame the humanist ideals of rational debate, erudition and cultural appreciation, and the production of truth and beauty, as historically linked to the epistemology of war. We address a recent tactical example of this perpetual war—the closing of the humanities department at the University of Minnesota.

[Discusses Clausewitz and Foucault, et al.]

Clausewitz in Scientology

(50 hits in Google.com!)

"If you think that Scientology is a religion, read on. One of the main sources for the "technology" used by Scientology's OSA is a volume not by L. Ron Hubbard, but by a man named Carl Von Clausewitz, called On War."

"Karl von Clausewitz's great work Vom Kriege, or On War, has been the Bible of the military for 150 years. The Book of Mormon reads as if it were written by a diligent student of this work. This is another case of Joseph Smith's timing to the split second, because the work wasn't published until 1833. Otherwise, you could accuse him of stealing the whole thing, because it's right out of Clausewitz,"

"Then too there were doubters who failed to see the greatness and brilliance of the Führer's decisions during the struggle for power. They favored the false wisdom that Clausewitz discussed: they wanted nothing but to escape danger." Josef Goebbels, "Our Hitler,"1939 Speech on Hitler's 50th Birthday, Die Zeit Ohne Beispiel (Munich: Zentralverlag der NSDAP, 1941)

Panzer Division Clausewitz

"In April of 1945, Panthers equipped with IR equipment (solution B) joined Panzer Division Clausewitz and in mid April near Uelzen destroyed entire platoon of British Comet cruiser tanks. Also on April 21st of 1945, same Panthers overran an American anti-tank position on the Weser-Elbe Canal."

I, Lord General Xandril, am an Underworld crime figure from New York City. I am an avid reader of Sun Tzu, Feldmarshal Erik von Manstein, General Heinz Guderian, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and Karl von Clausewitz. This is my webpage...it is dedicated to all of those I have raped, killed, maimed, and hurt in anyway. Crime Pays !!!!!! IAC Meets Karl von Clausewitz